This morning we continue our series, “Maximizing 2015 by God’s GREAT GRACE” by continuing to teach on prayer. Yesterday we looked at a prayer Paul prayed for the believers in Philippi. Today we will look at a prayer he prayed for the believers in Colossae. In each prayer we will seek to highlight the grace of God.
Paul’s greeting: “In our prayers we always thank God for you… Throughout the world, the Good News is bringing blessings and is spreading. And that’s what has been happening among you since the first time you heard it and understood the truth about God’s grace. You heard it from Epaphras, our dear friend and co-worker. He is a faithful servant of Christ for us. He also told us about the love you have from the Spirit. Since the day we heard these things about you, we have continued praying for you.”
Paul’s graced based prayer: “This is what we pray: that God will make you completely sure of what he wants by giving you all the wisdom and spiritual understanding you need; that this will help you live in a way that brings honor to the Lord and pleases him in every way; that your life will produce good works of every kind and that you will grow in your knowledge of God; that God will strengthen you with his own great power, so that you will be patient and not give up when troubles come.” (Colossians 1:3-11 ERV).
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Pray to clearly know what God wants to do with your life.
a) Paul prayed, “That God will make you completely sure of what he wants.”
b) When you understand God’s grace you quickly realize that your life is not about you or your selfish desires. It’s about God and the plans He made for you before the world began.
c) There is nothing more powerful than a man or woman who is completely clear about God’s assignment for their life, and who is accessing the grace for that assignment with their faith.
2. Pray to access God’s wisdom and spiritual understanding.
a) Paul prayed that God would give you “all the wisdom and spiritual understanding you need.”
b) God has already made His wisdom and spiritual understanding available to you, by His grace. When you pray in faith you access His grace to know His plans.
c) Knowing God’s will is critically important for the believer who is seeking to access His grace to perform His bidding in the earth, as it is in heaven.
3. Pray to access the grace to live a life that is pleasing in God’s sight.
a) Paul explained that hearing from God will “help you live in a way that brings honor to the Lord and pleases him in every way.”
b) Your goal every day should be to do whatever God wants you to do that day.
c) The more you yield to God, His grace, and His will, the more you will live a life that is pleasing in His sight.
4. Pray to access the grace to produce good works of every kind.
a) Paul prayed, “That your life will produce good works of every kind.”
b) You can easily pray for your life to produce good works, because God does not require you to come up with the power to perform the good works. God has already made His power (or grace) available to you to do all He has called you to do.
c) The more you die to self, the more God’s power will flow through you.
5. Pray for God to strengthen you with His supernatural power.
a) Paul prayed, “That God will strengthen you with his own great power.”
b) Whatever God expects you to do, He has already equipped you to do, by His grace.
c) God’s power is freely made available to you to accomplish His Kingdom plans and purposes for your life.
d) It would be out-of-character for your Heavenly Father to require something of you that He has not ALREADY equipped and empowered you to do.
6. Pray to access to the grace to keep going when troubles come.
a) Paul prayed, “That you will be patient and not give up when troubles come.”
b) You will not accomplish great things for God without having to overcome opposition.
c) The greater the assignment from God, the greater the attack from satan.
d) The same God who gave you the grace for the assignment has also given you the grace to keep going when the pressure is on you to give up, cave in and quit.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for Your Great Grace towards me. I also thank You for teaching me to pray from a position of grace. You made plans for me before the world began. You made those plans by Your unearned grace. I had nothing to do with it. My success in life is tied to those plans. You now freely reveal to me all You planned to do in, with and through my life. As I die to self and You reveal Your plans to me, I am able to live my life with complete confidence, knowing why I am here, and what I was born to do. You give me wisdom and spiritual understanding so I can live a life that is pleasing in Your sight. As I walk with You and You walk with me, You produce good works of every kind, in me and through me, for Your glory. I don’t do this with my power. I do it with Your great power, which is freely made available to me by Your grace. Your power flowing through me equips, enables and empowers me, as You employ me to be Your emissary in the earth. And that same power keeps me going when the pressure is on me to give up, cave in, and quit! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
